FAQ

FAQ

Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion come pre-installed with a VNC server, set up is very simple. For Windows, and Linux, you will need to install a 3rd Party VNC server (of which there are very good ones available). Please refer to the guides found in the forum for detailed instructions.

A: Yes, on the Mac (10.6+) sound can be streamed with the RemoterFusion add-on (08/26/2011)

On Windows, sound streaming is supported in RDP sessions (Needs IAP for Remoter VNC, included in Pro and Mac versions)

Q: I get “Connection Timeout” every 10-20 seconds, what can I do?

A: Remoter has a connection heartbeat that helps it terminate connection to non-responsive servers. If this feature is causing you unintended disconnections, you can disable it by going into Remoter Config and turning “Connection Heartbeat” off (under “Other Settings”).

Q: I’m connecting to a Windows machine using RDP, but no matter what color depth I select, the colors appear all messed up

A: Make sure you don’t have a group policy defined for Terminal Servers that sets the color depth to 15bpp. If you do, try changing it to 16bpp (which is compatible with Remoter).

Q: If, on the other hand, you’re using UltraVNC but the screen is not updating in Remoter

A: UltraVNC is not realizing the screen is changed, and is not letting Remoter know. You can try using TightVNC instead:

Alternatively, you can keep using UltraVNC, and enable “Connection Heartbeat” in Remoter Config. This causes Remoter to request screen refreshes. The screen will update, but not optimally.

Q: Remoter keeps reconnecting and I don’t know why

You are probably stuck in a reconnect loop. Please try disabling “Auto-Reconnect” is in the Remoter Config screen. This will prevent the reconnect loop. (This condition is taken care of in most cases in newer versions of Remoter, though)

Q: How do I setup Remoter VNC and a Mac for VNC over SSH? (using SSH Keys as well) ?

-First, you need to enable SSH support on your Mac (it can be any system inside your LAN). On your Mac, go to System Preferences – Sharing. Make sure Remote Login is enabled. The default is to allow access for all users, this is recommended.

-If you’re using VNC over SSH, then you also need to enable Screen Sharing

-Then, you should test your setup by creating an internal connection. In Remoter, create a new Session, select VNC over SSH: Name: “Internal Test”. SSH Hostname: your Mac (or SSH server’s) hostname or internal IP address. SSH Username: a username on the machine, same for SSH Password. (No keys for the test). VNC Hostname (localhost if it’s the same machine as the SSH server, otherwise the local IP address in your LAN or hostname). VNC Username: For Mac, your user account username, same for the password. VNC Port: 5900 (the default)

Try the connection. It works? Great, let’s add the SSH Key.

-In Remoter, go to the SSH Key Manager, Tap on +, and select “RSA SSH2”. In a minute the key will be ready, tap on it to rename it something easier to remember like : “remoter_on_my_iphone”. You can also add a passphrase here if you want the added security.

-Tap on the key and either email it to yourself, or “copy into PasteBoard”. If you chose to email it, then at your Mac, receive the email and copy the key into your Mac’s PasteBoard. Then open a terminal(command+space, ‘terminal’) and do the following: (only what’s bolded)

$ mkdir .ssh (ignore any errors)

$ touch .ssh/authorized_keys

$ open .ssh/authorized_keys

TextEdit should open with the file, scroll to the end of the file, and paste your key there. (make sure the whole pasted key is a one liner, so if in the email it looks like this: (the first part ‘ssh-rsa’ is really part of the same line as the rest, but it looks like separate lines because of line wrapping. This is OK, but the comment at the end needs to be in the same line))

Next step is to connect from the internet, for that you will have to follow the guides. But basically, you will need to open port 22 on your Router, and direct it to the computer running SSH. You will also have to set up Remoter (I recommend a separate session than the one you use for connecting internally), and for SSH Hostname you need to specify your public IP address (the one you get from your ISP).

Q: I can see my desktop, but the mouse clicks are not going through

Most VNC servers have an option to prevent input. Please make sure this option is not set. On the Mac, you need to make sure “Remoter Management” – “Sharing” is configured so that the users have the “Control” option selected. (Select on “Options…”)

Q: I can’t connect to my RealVNC server anymore. I get “Unknown Authentication Scheme from VNC server: 5, 129” or similar. How can I fix this?

RealVNC has support for their own authentication schemes, which are not part of the open RFB standard. These schemes are proprietary.

Please try configuring your server to not use the proprietary schemes, and you should be able to connect with Remoter (and other VNC clients) at that point.

In RealVNC, you can set the encryption to “Prefer On” (Rather than Always On), and the Authentication to “VNCAuth” (VNC Password Only) to allow Remoter to connect. (Thanks to Giingy for the tip)

Q: I can’t import my existing SSH Key with the “Import” button in the SSH Manager

Remoter can import keys generated externally. For iOS you will need to rename the key “ssh.key” and place it in Remoter’s directory from within iTunes File Sharing. Then you can use the Import button in SSH Key Manager to import the key.

If importing your key fails, please try the following terminal command to convert it into a format compatible with Remoter’s: